Since travel resumed in the summer of 2021, tourism and hospitality leaders have scrambled to get back to business. But two years later, a full recovery remains elusive. Airlines have canceled thousands of flights due to a shortage of gate agents and baggage handlers. Hotels can’t sell rooms without enough housekeepers. Restaurants struggle to serve full dining rooms with half the kitchen staff. Tour companies cut excursions because they can’t find certified guides or reliable drivers. Welcome centers reduce hours. Retail shops in popular destinations stand empty.

All signs point to a single issue: The front-line workforce—so essential to tourism’s success—is undervalued, undersupported, and increasingly absent.

In 2021, most operators chalked up labor shortages to post-pandemic disruptions. Wages were raised a few dollars an hour. Signing bonuses were offered. Scheduling became more flexible. But by 2022, it became clear that these stopgap measures weren’t enough. Some companies turned to extreme measures: CVS and Walgreens closed stores on Sundays due to staffing issues. Qantas Airlines asked executives to volunteer as baggage handlers for three months. Domino’s Pizza offered customers $3 “tips” to pick up their orders when delivery drivers were unavailable.

And in tourism? We quietly canceled tours, reduced service hours, or turned guests away.

What’s at stake is more than missed revenue—it’s a crisis of reputation, reliability, and resilience. The workers who greet visitors, clean rooms, guide experiences, and share their communities are not expendable. They are indispensable. And failing to recognize their strategic value is costing us dearly.

The Mismanagement at the Heart of the Crisis

Rather than blaming stimulus checks or pandemic aftershocks, we must confront a more complicated truth: Our industry has systematically underinvested in front-line workers. The consequences—sky-high turnover, low productivity, damaged guest experiences—are symptoms of a deeper issue.

Research from Harvard Business School’s Project on Managing the Future of Work, involving over 180,000 low-wage workers, shows that frontline employees are not inherently transient. In fact, 51% of those surveyed had stayed with the same company for more than four years, and 17% had stayed over a decade—yet still earned under $20/hour. These workers weren’t job-hopping; they were trapped.

Tourism and hospitality are among the worst offenders. Low wages, limited benefits, high physical and emotional demands, and a lack of development opportunities form what researchers call “low-wage traps.” Once someone enters the industry at the bottom rung, they often remain there until they leave altogether.

Six Mistakes Tourism Makes with Its Most Essential Workforce

1. Assuming Front-Line Workers Want to Leave

Too often, leaders assume that churn is just part of the game in hospitality. But that assumption doesn’t hold up. According to a Harvard study, 62% of workers would stay with their employer if given higher pay or a promotion. Remarkably, 9% said they’d stay even without a raise if they had access to training, and 6% would stay if offered more responsibility.

This reflects what we’ve seen in our work: shuttle drivers who remain loyal to their employer for 10 years despite never receiving formal development, concierges who train new hires but never get promoted, and guides who become irreplaceable yet remain underpaid.

2. Overlooking the Importance of Place and Stability

For many low-wage tourism workers, location is everything. When Harvard researchers asked why workers changed jobs, 64% cited more convenient commutes—more than those who left for better pay (43%). Yet most employers didn’t even list transportation as a key retention factor.

Hospitality jobs often involve erratic hours, night shifts, or early mornings. Without reliable transportation or childcare, workers find themselves in impossible situations. Destinations with poor transit links or unaffordable housing see even higher churn.

Consider the case of a factory worker in San Antonio who slept in his car in the parking lot just to maintain his perfect attendance. That employee wasn’t lazy or disengaged—he was homeless yet committed. His employer had no idea. The same story plays out in tourism daily: workers scraping by, falling through the cracks, and eventually walking away.

3. Failing to Tap Into Workers’ Goodwill

Despite challenging conditions, many front-line workers remain astonishingly optimistic. In the same study, 47% said they’d recommend their job to a friend, rating it eight or higher on a 10-point scale. And yet, employers rarely ask them for input or engage them in improvement efforts.

This goodwill is a powerful yet underutilized asset in tourism. Imagine if guest service agents, interpreters, or visitor center staff were invited to share insights. They know what guests need, understand where service breaks down, and could co-create better systems—if only we listened.

4. Putting the Burden of Growth on the Worker

Hospitality workers rarely get clear feedback or a structured path for advancement. In fact, only 32% of employers in the Harvard study believed their company had any responsibility for employee development; most felt the burden rested on the employee.

But many workers are afraid to ask for more. One-third of those surveyed had no idea what their next step could be, even after three or more years in the same job. Over half said no one had ever discussed skills they needed to improve. For these workers, there is no ladder—only a loop.

In tourism, where culture and empathy are core to the product, investing in development isn’t just moral—it’s strategic. However, most job ads still fail to mention career advancement, company values, or training benefits.

5. Underestimating Strategic Importance

High-level professionals receive extensive onboarding, training, and leadership development. Front-line workers, on the other hand, are expected to “figure it out.” Yet, no amount of branding can overcome a poor guest experience.

Hospitality’s competitive edge lies in its people: the room attendant who anticipates a guest’s needs, the ticket seller who remembers a repeat visitor, and the driver who tells a local story that transforms a ride into a memory. These moments matter. They drive reviews, referrals, and repeat business.

When companies don’t invest in these employees, they lose talent and erode their brand.

6. Neglecting Mentorship, Training, and Career Conversations

In the Harvard survey, 55% of low-wage workers said they’d never had a supervisor help them succeed. Only a fraction had received regular, helpful feedback. Employers admitted they had few systems to learn about workers’ aspirations or challenges.

This issue is compounded in tourism, with seasonal contracts and high team-to-supervisor ratios. Leaders often oversee 20 or more front-line employees—too many to coach meaningfully.

Yet, when organizations prioritize mentorship, the results speak for themselves.

Bright Spots: What’s Working—and What We Can Learn

Some companies are doing it right—and tourism can learn from them.

Disney’s Aspire Program is a standout example. Launched in 2018, it covers 100% of tuition and fees for hourly workers who pursue degrees or vocational training. Over 14,000 workers are enrolled; 3,500 have graduated. Disney has promoted more than 2,800 Aspire students and alums. More than half of the participants are people of color, and more than 60% are women. One park operator became an electrical engineer. A merchandiser moved into global HR.

Chipotle is another success story. Over 80% of its leaders are promoted from within. Salaries and pathways are published transparently—from crew ($41,300) to restaurateur ($112,000+). Employees are encouraged to seek advancement, and supervisors are trained to support those goals. The result? A culture where upward mobility is expected—not exceptional.

Butterball Farms, a small manufacturer, created The Source, a consortium of 25 companies that fund resource navigators to help employees access housing, food assistance, transportation, and healthcare. Each “job save” (keeping someone employed through support) saves companies an average of $3,000.

Tourism organizations can replicate these models. Even small DMOs or hotel groups can offer mentorship, partner with community colleges, or add career coaching to performance reviews.

Four Steps for Tourism Leaders

To begin addressing this crisis, leaders must act on four key fronts:

1. Make the Business Case

Retention pays. Constant hiring, onboarding, and lost productivity cost more than training and development. Yet many tourism employers still focus only on up-front costs, not return on investment. We need to change the conversation.

2. Communicate Clearly—and Often

Could you let workers know what paths are available? Publish internal promotion stories. Normalize career conversations. Make training and development part of your value proposition—not just for management, but for everyone.

3. Understand Barriers

Survey workers. Ask about transportation, housing, food security, and scheduling. Then act. One tourism board we worked with shifted training modules to mobile platforms after learning that most front-line staff lacked home Wi-Fi.

4. Partner for Progress

You don’t have to do it alone. Collaborate with workforce boards, community colleges, or nonprofits like Learn Tourism. Offer education stipends. Host joint training. Build bridges to other careers—even if workers eventually leave. Your reputation as a supportive employer will attract others.

The Bottom Line

People power tourism. And the people on the front lines—those who clean, greet, cook, lift, drive, smile, translate, and guide—are not just “entry-level.” They are brand builders, economic engines, and cultural ambassadors.

They deserve more than platitudes. They deserve pathways.

Organizations that understand this—and act on it—will weather staffing challenges, build loyal teams, and deliver exceptional experiences.

Those that don’t? They’ll keep watching the “We’re hiring” signs gather dust—and the visitors walk away.